Allanw

isn't there a difference between the Jap exhaust, and the Euro ones on E36's? I thought the jap one were more restrictive too? Maybe related to the Jatco box?

Bummer..... Not the result you wanted. If could be just the headgasket though - hard to confirm a cracked head until it's off usually. Cutting your losses and buying something else could be the same again - often the devil you know is better.

Score That's what dealers should do really. I think the V8 fans do lock a bit in traffic - the 8's run particularly hot - it helps with their pretty good economy.

Good idea - It is a really common problem spot. It wasn't fitted on early cars, so no problems with them. On Dads E30, it had a very very slight missfire - only once every couple of months, and only like a single cylinder missfired. On the Advice of Brent from Betta Motor Works up here, we cleaned it up (this was probably 10 or 12 years ago!) and it's never done it again since. Just on the weekend I cleaned it again, as I was poking around and saw it sitting there and though "Why not?" It's worth giving it a clean anyway with some decent contact cleaner and then a corrosion inhibitor. I use either Wurth or De-Oxit (which we use on Medical Electronics with great results). If the contacts are iffy, either replace them, or hard wire it.

I was going to take my Transporter to the Drags at the VW nats when they were in Auckland. It's only about as fast as a 4.0 Falcon to 80-90 k though :-) I'd need to have found 8 helmets too. Autos do have their advantages - if you want to accelerate suddenly on the open road, it's just a press on the pedal :-) No need to loose valuable fractions of a second changing down . Most of the time though, a manual feels more lively (They aren't actually faster ALL the time though). In a 540i, the difference is probably quite impressive, but unnecesary. Our manual 525i is actually pretty quick. I know most don't believe it - the 525i facelift is still considered a slug, because of it's "Big, Heavy" body, but it'll still eat the pants of an E30 325i manual (Dad has one), and they aren't usually considered slow. It certainly feels far faster than the autos. I wouldn't have considered a 525i auto, it would have been a 3.0 minimum (I can easily upgrade to a 3.0 too ) If you REALLY wanted a manual, I'd go for a 530i and do the conversion, which I would imagine is a LOT cheaper - boxes are far easier to get for one.

Uh-OH!

Because you weren't a hairdresser? Or because you weren't an old man? The AMG probably overcomes a lot of the "image" though

DO NOT RELY on an E39 Temp gauge! I'm not 100% on them that early, but cetainly the M52TU and M54 powered ones have gauges that are VERY heavily buffered - normal (12 o'clock) could be anything from abou 75C up to about 115C. For it to go red, the coolant is VERY hot! Also, unless you have high OBC (text display, not the car picture) it won't warn you if the coolant leaks out either. I get my parts from Paul at Milland.co.nz - he's very good. Really, to do it right, you'll want a water pump, thermostat, hoses, radiator (they can bow downwards at the bottom, prior to exploding) expansion tank, fan clutch (viscous coupling) and you certainly need to replace that fan! While you're doing that, you should probably do fan belts and tensioners/idlers, if they aren't done - the fan belt tensioners have been known to let go too (and they're pretty cheap). Make sure the electric fan works too. If you take it to someone who knows what they're doing, you may be able to leave some of those out - but they REALLY need to know what they're doing. There are some really useless "mechanics" out there, and some REALLY good ones, and even the really good ones may not know the E39 well enough. I wouldn't drive it with the broken blades and the locked fan clutch - the fan can disintegrate, and the locked fan clutch can overrev the fan, which has caused them to come apart without already being broken. Bits of the fan can take out a lot of other expensive parts. People get hung up on service history - having it taken to Team McMillan doesn't mean the owner paid for all the required or suggested work. It may have been serviced, but had mutliple faults noted which the owner chose not to do. It's the Kiwi way - "I can do that myself. Later" and it never gets done! So it may still require a lot of repairs or maintainance items. Hopefully the engine is fine (probably, unless you kept driving!), so it's just the service work that's required :-) If you fit all those parts, and the engine has got a blown headgasket, the parts cvan be transferred to a second hand engine, or can be used after the gasket replacement too. I hope it doesn't come to that though! Good luck

I think I have input in a lot of the hijacks/tangents!

If you've only changed the manifold, the rev limit is still the same - it's ECU determined.

I thought you were supposed to paint it silver, and mount it in FRONT of the bumper... even if it's not connected. On your diesel navara

It's not a bad colour - not like old-man-beige - it's far more caramelly. Realistically, the S62 and 6 speed would probably overcome pink leather

Funny... your neighbours will probably have no idea you've changed cars

NICE. It really looks good. Love the grey! Black is a bit bland, and beige is a bit "pipe and slippers"

No, that was in the US :-) Just the plastic cover.

about US$400, plus shitloads of work to fit it.

I think they're just the new Mondeo aren't they?

I must have gotten lucky. Mine prefers manuals. She's only had 4 cars since we were married, only one was auto I'm having a hell of a itme finding a manual people mover worth owning!

Yeah... cause they're good, and people want them

That'll get rid of some crap off the roads! I can believe how badly BA Falcons rust! A mate was looking at around 2006 model xr6's, and quite a few had rust breaking though! He brought a Commodore instead, which he says is still like a tractor, but fits 3 car seats across the back.

Nope, mine were fine, but I fitted a genuine xenon retrofit kit with complete new lights, so hope i never have to do it!

You can also replace the adjusters without opening the lights right up. Some good googling should find a better one, but this: 1. Remove lights from the car. Lights are held in place with 4 bolts (8mm i think). Remove all 4 bolts and disconnect all connectors. Pull lights out and pay attention to the plastic strip under the lights, you dont want to brake that. 2. Remove all bulbs. Angel eye and turn signal, just twist the bulb holder and pull out. Low an high beams, remove rubber cover and twist the bulb holder. 3. Remove auto adjusters screws. 3 torx screws. 4. Remove auto adjusting unit. To remove that, look inside the light through high beam hole. You will see auto adjusters arm, push that arm to low beam side, to unclip the adjuster from the holder, it should pop out easily. Dont brake that. 5.Look through the high beam hole to turn indicator side and you will see the horisontal adjuster (it might be snapped in half). On the bottom of the adjuster, there is a torx screw. remove that. Use the adjusting bolt to unscrew the adjuster completely and take it out from the light cluster. Note the way, how the adjuster is inside the light. Keep the adjuster holder. you will need it for the new adjuster. 6. Look through the angel eye bulb hole. It is hard to spot, but there is another torx screw. Undo that and use the vertical adjusting bolt to undo the adjuster completely. Remove the adjuster and holder from the light cluster. Note how the adjuster is inside the light. Keep the adjuster holder. 7. Now. install new horisontal adjuster through the high beam hole. Try to get it to the right position and use adjusting bolt to screw it in. 8. Install horisontal adjusters holder and screw it in its place, but do not snap adjuster in to it yet. 9. Now the hard part. Put the new vertical adjuster onto its holder and use top observation panel in the light cluster to put it in the light. Try to move it to the right position with your fingers and use adjusting bolt to screw it in. 10. Screw the vertical adjusters torx screw in place through the angel eye bulb hole. 11. Snap horisontal adjusters arm into the holder. 12. Reinstall automatic adjuster (screw both adjusters in, using adjusting bolts to make it easier to install auto adjuster.). 13. Put the bulbs back in. 14. Fit the lights to the car and get them aimed. is from HERE

Sweetbix.

The OTHER Allans link shows the ballast bracket, I was actually referring to the lower mount brackets - You can actually use the pre facelift brackets, but there is 1 screw you can't put in. It's been done PLENTY of times, but if you can get the brackets too, do it. They are attached to the bottom of the lights anyway, so will probably come with used lights. Schmiedmann has white indicator genuine hella xenons with ballasts for just under $1300 a pair, shipped. This image is the lower light brackets from a pre facelift. Facelift has an additional mounting hole somewhere:

The ballasts attach to the rear of the lights, so you'll need the whole set. If you go from PFL to facelift lights, you'll need to wiring adapters for the angeleyes etc too. Ideally, you should have the bracket off the bottom of the light enclosure too. I got my genuine retrofit kit landed in NZ for about NZ$900, but they come with orange indicators, which I prefer on my steel blue car (the clears I had for a while looked cheap), but on a black car, the orange would look gash! The LCM MAY have been coded to suit the halogens, but more likely it just doesn't cause an issue, and isn't doing cold checks The xenons have no cold checks, only ignition checks for the HID, but the current on the halogens would be high enough to trick it anyway, I think. No cold checks means no low beam warning - you could unplug a low beam and see if you get cold check warnings. The self levelling can be hooked straight up to halogens, so it's probably still functionaing - they use the same motors. Do you have the adjuster wheel on the dash? You shouldn't if it really had factory xenons. If you fit the Xenons, and any errors come up, the LCM can be coded to suit anyway (I can do it for you, but I'm in Whangarei, and you probably have the round under bonnet connector that I currently have no adapter for). Self levelling on factory xenons has 2 sensors (right rear, and front left from memory). You CANNOT retrofit that system with serious work - the factory Xenon retrofit kit uses a more basic version of self levelling which only has a right rear sensor. Your LCM may have been changed at some stage, but it's probably an auto levelling type at least, if you aren't having errors come up.